It has taken 22 years, but the city's gamble to develop an industrial park off Sixth Street has weathered economic downturns and naysayers to become an economic asset.

Now almost full and its debt paid off, the roughly 100-acre Enterprise Park comprising 40 industrial lots generates about $500,000 a year in taxes for the city. Largely due to its success, Dover has allocated funds to develop a second industrial park.

More than 15 firms can be found today off two main roads and two side streets worth a combined taxable value of $19.7 million last year. From publishing to textiles, food distribution to software, the companies employ an estimated 450 workers with spin-off benefits of payroll and local spending estimated in the millions of dollars.

The bonded debt to buy the land and build roads, sewer and water lines was paid off last year.

Although the industrial park began in the early 1990s with high hopes and almost unanimous support by city officials, it has been a long and sometimes rocky road for Enterprise Park.

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A promotional poster for Enterprise Park's available lots.

Yet over time, its supporters have been vindicated.

Few of them were as instrumental to the park's birth and vigorous in its defense as George Maglaras, the longtime local and state politician who currently is chairman of the Strafford County Commission. He served for years on the Dover Industrial Development Authority (DIDA, now known as DBIDA).

Maglaras said he still encounters people who accuse him of ruining their quiet Sixth Street neighborhood by pushing Enterprise Park's creation. The owner of a marina on the Cocheco River in downtown Dover, Maglaras understands their consternation but remains an unabashed defender of the project.

“Time vindicated us of our action,” he said. “If we would have listened to the critics, that's 450 jobs we wouldn't have had.”

Maglaras was chairman of a citizens advisory committee for community development at the time Enterprise Park was conceived and mayor when it was approved. It required an investment of $2 million to $3 million and was a leap of faith. There was no assurance businesses would want to locate there. But the city felt pressed to do something.

In the 1980s, Dover and the region were booming. Subdivisions were going up all over to meet housing demand but eating up land for other uses such as industry. More and more property taxes were going to pay for expensive residential services such as schools, and officials saw the need to add more industry — especially small- to mid-sized firms considered “clean” — to the tax base.

The closing in 1991 of Pease Air Base in nearby Newington sent the area into an economic tailspin.

The specter of thousands of square feet of business space becoming available for industrial tenants at the base fueled Dover's angst that it would become even more of a bedroom community as nearby towns attracted lucrative business development.

An updated master plan for the city identified the need for another industrial park to attract this kind of desired commercial growth. Two other industrial developments in Dover — Crosby Road and Knox Marsh — were either full or had environmental limitations.

Sixth Street had been identified as one of the few areas with available land, and it was rezoned for industry. The 90 acres that eventually would become Enterprise Park was owned by developers who had agreed to sell to the city, but the site had its issues.

A big one was access.

The state had built an extension known as Indian Brook Road from Exit 9 on the Spaulding Turnpike to Sixth Street. The 90 acres abutted this, but state law at the time prohibited private access from state roads. This had prevented the property's private owners from developing it themselves. Dover had to gain access by forcing landowners on Sixth Street to sell the acreage that would become the main entrance at Venture Drive.

Meanwhile, changes in state environmental laws crimped the amount of developable land on the site, almost half of which was wetland.

The solution was to use a then innovative approach to transfer development rights from one type of land to another, enabling an incoming business to build on less land than normally permitted. That enabled wetlands on the site to be preserved.

Today, commuters and truck traffic in the park sometimes have to slow for wild turkeys, deer and other wildlife. Bird life is abundant. All thrive in the area because of the preserved wetland corridors — fulfilling the purpose of building prohibitions.

The city also had to rebuild and extend water lines to the area and upgrade the sewer system. Venture Drive had to be constructed, followed by Production Drive farther down Sixth Street. Quality Way and Innovation Way were side streets built off Venture Drive. Utilities were installed underground as lots were developed.

Bill Collins was Dover's planning director from 1986 to 1993, and was in the thick of the proposal and planning for Enterprise Park.

He left to take a position as planning director for Teton County, Wyo., and still works there as a private consultant.

Collins still keeps a commemorative plaque from the Enterprise Park dedication ceremony June 4, 1992 on his desk. The dedication was attended by local and state officials including then-Governor Judd Gregg.

At the ground-breaking, then-Mayor Howard Williams said there was the potential eventually to create 7,200 jobs. He also reported that a training center and “affordable” day-care facility were planned at the park.

These predictions proved a bit too ambitious.

The center and day-care facility never materialized. The job projections fell far short. Still, what evolved does not diminish the achievement, said officials.

A lot of communities write up plans for industrial parks, but few follow through with funding to acquire the land and install the infrastructure, said Collins.

“It takes a lot of gumption and commitment and willingness to spend money, and it paid off.”

COMPANIES COME

The park was designed to sell lots to smaller firms that would build industrial buildings for manufacturing and offices. The land was initially priced initially at $45,000 an acre.

One of the first businesses to see potential in locating at Enterprise Park was Cramer Fabrics, a family-owned German textile manufacturer that was looking for a place to build a U.S. plant to supply North American customers.

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Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
A tractor-trailer backs into a business on Venture Drive inside Enterprise Park.

It bought lots on both sides of Venture Drive and has expanded once since starting operations there in 1994.

Bob Cramer, grandson of the founder, said his family first considered locating in the Carolinas but was intrigued by New Hampshire's textile tradition, skilled workers and low taxes.

Inside Cramer Fabric's building near the beginning of Venture Drive, heavy metal industrial looms weave synthetic fibers into all sorts of fabrics.

The rolls of material are shipped to companies that use them in everything from aerospace parts to conveyor belts.

The business employs 45 people, about one-third living locally, and prides itself on an in-house training program and an intern program with DBIDA and area high schools called BizEdConnect. The goal is to entice graduates to consider a career in textiles.

The skilled positions Cramer provides pay well above traditional factory wages, said General Manager Annette Studebaker. The textile business these days is high-tech and has a prosperous future.

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Ryan McBride/Staff photographer Business and pleasure on a road leading to Foster's Daily Democrat in Enterprise Park.

“When we take apart a loom, you should see all the parts involved,” said Studebaker, whose best high school interns often have a mechanical aptitude.

Another early buyer of property at Enterprise Park was the Geo. J. Foster Publishing Co., the parent company of Foster's Daily Democrat and the Sunday Citizen.

Foster's bought 30 acres at the end of Venture Drive and built a facility to house a new press and offices. It moved its printing there from historic headquarters on Central Avenue in 1998. Advertising and news operations were moved to the facility in 2006.

“I think it's proven itself to be a success and a good thing for the city ,” said Patrice Foster, president and publisher.

IT TAKES TIME

The commercial real estate market is cyclical and fickle. After Enterprise Park opened, it filled slower than some officials expected, which sparked criticism.

By 1996, only seven companies had purchased lots. In 1998, the park's debt burden was costing the city over $100,000 more annually than it was generating in taxes.

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Ryan McBride/Staff photographer The sign listing some of Enterprise Park's tenants at the intersection of Sixth Street and Venture Drive.

Some argued it was not being marketing properly and was a waste of taxpayer money.

Maglaras remembers being told it was “the road to nowhere.”

Supporters say it just takes time to find the right firms and that an industrial park that attracts smaller companies, such as Enterprise Park, is fluid by nature. They urged patience.

Companies buy other firms, are themselves bought or otherwise see their fortunes change.

To make it attractive for younger firms that may not have adequate resources to buy lots and build outright, DBIDA partnered with the state Business Finance Authority to allow companies to lease a building there with the option to buy. DBIDA would borrow from the state to build the building. The lease payments would pay that back with interest.

If the tenant bought the building within five years, the lease payments were applied to the principal.

This was done for Conproco, a concrete fabrication firm and long-time resident of Production Drive.

It also was done for Consumer Parts Warehouse at 1 Quality Way, which moved to the park from Exeter in 2005. That firm is now known as Certified Retail Solutions and recycles and maintains computerized equipment for retailers.

Founder and CEO Scott Johnson liked the former Exeter location, but that city offered him no enticement to stay when he outgrew his space. Dover, on the other hand, had Enterprise Park and the offer of leasing to buy a new building of his own.

“Why do I want to keep leasing if I can buy my own space?,” said Johnson.

In 2013, Certified bought the California software firm RedDotNet and runs both companies from its Dover location. RedDotNet has enabled Johnson to expand into the booming business of interactive kiosks, such as self-serve checkout machines at grocery stores.

Inside the Certified building, a dizzying mix of computerized equipment used in retailing arrives by the truckload for cleaning and updating. Groups of technicians disassemble and work on components. The revitalized machines then are shipped back out for second lives at stores such as Oshkosh, Yankee Candle and F.Y.E. entertainment stores.

Certified employed 30 employees in 2005. Today it has about 75 workers and is a major supporter of the intern program BizEdConnect, with seven interns there now.

Johnson touts his company's employment benefits and opportunities for advancement and growth as the company expands into increasingly high-tech electronics. He also touts its value to the area. A number of former employees have left to start related firms. This includes Newport Computer in Rochester.

“We pay $45,000 a year in taxes and don't need a lot of services,” he said.

He believes Dover's decision to build the park was money well spent.

“Elected officials have to be good stewards of public money, but sometimes you have to prime the pump,” said Johnson.

Certified's neighbor at 44 Venture Drive is office machine company Formax, a division of Bescorp.

But calling Formax an office machine company may be misleading. While it does supply conventional office equipment such as copiers and mailers, it also offers machines that perform more specific functions such as pressure sealing, data destruction and digital printing.

Launched in Dover in 1987 under the Bescorp name, founder Tim Lindsay and his son Ryan, now president, decided to build in Enterprise Park in 1998. They added an addition in 2001 and acquired a California-based office equipment manufacturer in 2002.

Beginning with 10 employees when they first located on Venture Drive, they now employ about 50. Six technicians are on the road constantly performing preventive machine maintenance for 1,500 retail business customers in three states. The wholesale side of the business reaches nationwide.

The Lindsays have outgrown their space and a “For Sale” sign now graces the front of their Venture Drive property. The firm is not going far, however.

Formax purchased land across Sixth Street from the entrance to Enterprise Park and broke ground there last month on a 26,000-square-foot building.

They hope to move into the new facility in November.

The firm needed more storage space and a more visible showroom demo space for its growing line of equipment, said Ryan Lindsay. But they're not moving far because they like their current location, which Lindsay said is close to downtown Dover and Exit 9 of the Spaulding Turnpike.

The city's aggressive pricing of lots in Enterprise Park made the move here an easy decision that has paid off, he said.

The latest firm to build in Enterprise Park was Heine USA, a subsidiary of a German firm that makes medical diagnostic equipment.

After 11 years at a location in a downtown Dover mill, Heine decided it needed more space and better access for delivery trucks. Its modern building built in 2007 at 10 Innovation Way incorporates many innovative energy-saving features and employs about 20 people.

THE FUTURE

Dan Barufaldi is Dover's economic development director. He is employed by DBIDA and works to attract new business to Dover from an office in City Hall.

Despite Enterprise Park being considered an economic success, Barufaldi said it's still not full. The city still has one 12.5-acre lot available, and two smaller lots of 3-4 acres each with road access. The current going price for an acre in the park is about $60,000.

Also, the Formax facility is still for sale and Foster's owns two lots on the market that it does not need.

Competition for companies is intense, said Barufaldi, but he believes Dover has a lot going for it. Area attributes include transportation, good schools, health care facilities, job training options and an educated workforce.

Having a second business park would be a big help, he said, with the goal of attracting symbiotic small- to mid-size manufacturers that incorporate technology.

He calls them “advanced manufacturing clusters,” and Enterprise Park has become a good model for the next one.

Many of the firms in the park incorporate modern technology in their processes and use products and services provided by neighboring firms.

They also tend to have skilled positions that pay a living wage or better.

This attracts educated, younger employees. That type of worker tends to buy homes nearby and shop locally for services and entertainment. They also spin off other companies.

In short, they add to the social and economic fabric of a healthy community.

In January, Dover councilors appropriated $2.45 million to develop a second industrial park. The Mast Road area has been mentioned, but everything depends on finding enough available land. The city will apply several lessons learned from Enterprise Park, including the need for dedicated professional marketing and conservatively developing the new site.

“It's been a win-win, a success story,” said Barufaldi of Enterprise Park. “It's been a great launching pad for business.”